'STANDING ROOM ONLY'

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 126, 21 February 1919, Page 6

'STANDING ROOM ONLY'

—— ■ OVERCROWDING IN THEATRES ) • DISCUSSION AT THE CITY COUNCIL • The By-Laws' Committee of the City Council last evening reported that it had received a ; deputation representing the ,pictur.o theatre and. vaudeville entertainment proprietors, who asked that the council permit 'a certain number, ot persons to stand iu the theatres, understrict supervision. The deputation urged that , - if the council strictly enforced its bylaw on the matter of overcrowding, a great hardship would be inflicted, par- ; ticularly as' considerable restrictions had already been imposed as a result of tho ir.ecerit-epidemic.' ■ j,The.committee stated,.that it could not lecommend the council to depnrt from its decision to enforce strictly the provisions of the law. •Another deputation, headed by Mr. H. W. Shortt, waited/upon the council at ■ the commencement of last night's meet-' : \ing to i)ut the theatre proprietors' request still more strongly. Mr. Shortt ' urged that there'had never been an acci- ■: dent due to permitting people to stand in theatres; and he stressed the fact that in.'theatres'in all other parts of the :.. world people were allowed to stand. "Staiahnj* 10'om only" was a common 6ign outSido an English theatre. Mr. H. Wilson, theatre manager, 6up- ■ plemented Mr. Shortt's statements. He said that the council's action! had followed upon tho visitation' ofi-the epidemic, ft disaster which alone ;had cost the firm he represented J23300 per week. : The .theatres needed every opportunity that they could get- to recuperate. . Councillor Barber .informed the deputation that the council still had to receive the report of the By-Laws Committee on, the matter, and could therefore make no statement of its intentions for the moment. Tho by-law, he pointed* out, was not a now one, though its strict • enforcement was recent. ' , Later in the evening, Councillor Veitch moved that the By-Laws Committee give further consideration to tho matter, and report to the next meeting of,the council. 7 The City Engineer, Mr.-W. H. Morton, ■ said that- the fact that in the past inspectors had notice of a few people standing in the theatres llad en- ' couraged proprietors to . pack in crowds of standing people. Wot only was it necessary in deciding thfflmatter to consider Hie possibility of a . panio occurring, but it was' also,', necessary, to look to the interests of the public health—interests which were always endangered by .overcrowding,' - . ' Councillor Veitch's motion ■ was car- - -Tied. ' •